Scion of a well-connected but impoverished family, Frank Softly may be the most audacious, outrageous, engaging, and thoroughly love-struck young man in Regency London. By the age of 25, he's been in and out of doctoring, caricaturing, forging Old Masters, and counterfeiting half-crowns. Now a maliciously conceived will ties the loveable rascal's fortunes to those of his doddering grandmother and miserly brother-in-law. The ensuing scheme brings Frank...

Allan Armadale makes a startling deathbed confession to be shared with his young son once he reaches adulthood-he murdered another man named Allan Armadale. It's a dark secret that inevitably looms over the child of the perpetrator and his victim. Before dying, Allan Armadale reveals that he previously killed a man also named Allan Armadale. It's a revelation meant for his young son who discovers the information as an adult. At this point, he's...

Washington, D.C.-based attorney Lawrence Blakely has been asked by his partner to deliver some important documents to a client in Pittsburgh. In the course of his return trip, the occupant of the train berth opposite his - the lower ten, which Blakely was supposed to have taken - is savagely murdered. Was Blakely the intended victim, and did the crime have something to do with his briefcase full of vital evidence? When the murder weapon turns up underneath...

In the turbulent years leading up to the First World War, Malcolm Hay, an aspiring engineer for the Ukrainian-English Oil Company, finds himself entangled in a web of political intrigue and power plays in the heart of Russia. Amidst the glittering salons of London and the dangerous streets of Kiev, Malcolm crosses paths with the alluring Grand-Duchess Irene Yaroslav. She becomes a pawn in a ruthless game orchestrated by the ambitious Russian prince,...

Not even death can keep a good pirate down-but the world's greatest detective might be able to give him a run for his money The houseboat on the river Styx is the afterlife's hippest meeting spot, and it attracts some of history's greatest luminaries: William Shakespeare, Confucius, Napoleon Bonaparte, George Washington, and Socrates have all spent time together there. But such illustrious men also attract less savory characters from the past. One...

Kara hates candles. He also believes that there is a great criminal lost in John Lexman, the detective-story writer involved in a plot more fantastic than any of his own ingenious mysteries. It is no secret that Kara had hoped to marry the beautiful Grace, but she is now Lexman's wife. But Lexman owes Vassalaro, the Greek moneylender, and Vassalaro has threatened to kill him. A tense and powerful tale that moves dramatically between London and the...

The Haunted Bookshop (1919) is a novel by Christopher Morley. Although less popular than Kitty Foyle (1939), a novel adapted into an Academy Award-winning film, The Haunted Bookshop is a fast-paced thriller that deserves a modern audience. From unassuming beginnings as a tale about a lovelorn advertising salesman who visits a charming bookstore, The Haunted Bookshop quickly morphs into a story of paranoia, stalking, and kidnapping. "If you are ever...

After the tragic death of his son, Allan Quatermain's grief is inconsolable. Feeling that the only possible way to ease his pain is through an expedition, Quatermain seeks out Captain Good, Sir Henry Curtis, and the Zulu chief Umslopogaas, who all previously journeyed with him to King Solomon's Mine. After explaining his predicament, Quatermain persuades them to accompany him on one last journey-a search mission to find a lost city. Together they...

Elam Harnish has more money than he would ever need. As he accumulates wealth as a successful entrepreneur in the Alaskan Gold Rush, Harnish must face the challenges of the Yukon Territory. After he makes a fortune, Harnish finds himself still unsatisfied. In efforts to find a new challenge and make more money, Harnish decides to move down to the mainland of America, settling in California. However, after a group of money kings threaten to take his...